Nakama
by Awkward Turtleduck
Summary: Rukia's thoughts on how her world was changed by meeting a certain brash teenager.


**Disclaimer:** Don't own BLEACH or any of the characters. If I did I would have made somebody die already and I wouldn't have made Ichigo the all-powerful badass. :p

Rukia's thoughts on how her world was changed by meeting a certain brash teenager.

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**Nakama**

Tranquil stillness flooded Karakura Town under the uninhibited light of the cold moon. It was that type of stillness that seemed strange after all those turbulent and dangerous days, with the threat of Aizen Sosuke annihilating the whole town and converting it to the Lost Key, that type of stillness which although not unwelcome was a bit unsettling.

Standing on top of a lamppost, keenly observing the still town, the small figure of a raven-haired girl in black was illuminated by the moonlight.

_Deathly silence._

She chuckled at the words that popped in her mind. There was no actual need for her to patrol the town that night. If a Hollow appeared, she would know it through her cellphone. But it had been such a long time since she had last been to the town to patrol. Many things have happened—the loss of her powers, her living as a human for two months, making friends, getting arrested by her childhood friend and her stepbrother, waiting for her execution, facing various strong opponents, confronting and finally overcoming the guilt that she had been carrying for years, rescuing friends, saving Karakura Town and more—and she could pinpoint the start of all these events, an important factor in all these events though that is not to say he is the cause of all of them— her meeting with a certain orange-haired boy.

_That's right. My routine was first broken by that meeting._

A smile crossed her often-serious countenance. She had already thought of it before—what if she never met him? How would have things turned out? If she hadn't met him, she wouldn't have lost her powers. She wouldn't have been forced to enter into a faux body and perhaps Urahara Kisuke wouldn't have been able to bury the Hougyoku inside her soul. And then Aizen wouldn't have massacred Central 46 and engineered the order for her execution. Perhaps he would have a harder time finding that dangerous object. Perhaps he wouldn't have found it. No, he would have found a way. It was Aizen they were talking about. Things would have still ended up with Aizen posing as a dangerous threat against Soul Society and the human world. It was inevitable.

But.

She was glad she had met him because through him she was able to have such wonderful memories—learning firsthand the quirky things in the human world, meeting Yasutora Chad, Ishida Uryuu and Inoue Orihime— getting to feel once again the treasure that is friendship.

_Ah, that brings back memories of those long-ago days in Rukongai. _

Those days were hard but she was able to go through them because of her friends. But then they died and all that was left was her and Abarai Renji. Then she lost Renji too when she was adopted by the Kuchiki household. And from that point on it was hard to make friends. People were guarded around her, talking behind her back, how she was such a _lucky girl _having been adopted by the Noble House of Kuchiki. That had made her very lonely.

And then she met him, her admired vice-captain, Shiba Kaien. It was only him who tried to know her better.

But then he died.

By her own hand.

Looking back on her life that way, it seemed like everything was going downhill. And that things changed for the better when she met him.

An irreplaceable friend.

The one who changed _her_ world.

When she first met him, she was immediately struck by his resemblance with Kaien-dono. But she pushed that thought away. He was not Kaien-dono.

He had said to her when she first saw him again after she was taken back to Soul Society that all her opinions would be ignored since everything she said was always out of worry for him.

_But of course you idiot. Life is a very precious thing and I couldn't let anybody lose their life. Especially not yours, not when I was the one who had dragged you into this Death God business._

Yet she knew it was also her fear of people dying because of her. She was not worthy. But he made her realize that her life was precious too. If not to her, well it was to him and to Renji and to Hanatarou and to people she never thought would have risked their lives to save her.

Her life was changed because of him, as much as she changed his. And despite the troubles and problems that came up, she was sure of one thing—he made the rain stop for her too.

After all they were destined to meet, to change each others' lives (for the better, that for sure), and to be each other's irreplaceable friend.


End file.
